Chapter 22

On the Internet of the Modern World.

If anyone dared say that winning a war only cost a few tens of millions, they would surely be torn apart by countless people.

That would definitely be ripped to shreds by countless people.

A few tens of millions?

Not even enough for fuel costs!

And here in Yonghe Spacetime, Lin Dao's investment of tens of millions worth of supplies had actually won the war.

A grand investment, made for the sake of harvest.

"That is to say." Inside the great tent, Lin Dao looked at Jin Lian. "Apart from this Main Camp, I got nothing?"

"Lord."

Jin Lian, her small face full of indignation, saluted Lin Dao. "Slave has had the sisters investigate."

"On the day the camp was breached, all supplies in the camp were swept clean by the army men."

Her words carried undisguised dissatisfaction.

Those military households actually took everything away, leaving Lord only an empty camp.

They didn't even think: without Lord, they would still be eating sand inside the settlement at this moment.

Lin Dao waved his hand. "Speak clearly."

"Lord."

Jin Lian spoke haltingly. "When Slave came out of the settlement, I saw those military households taking things away from the camp."

"Those cowhide tents were simply cut down, tied with hemp rope, and dragged away."

"The stove pots and wood—anything that could be dismantled was dismantled."

"If it weren't for the colonels scolding them, they would have dismantled even this great tent and the fences in the camp."

Lin Dao nodded, showing understanding.

Cowhide was strategic material; taking it away was only natural.

As the population increased, the demands on nature rose rapidly.

Cooking needed wood, boiling water needed wood, and keeping warm needed wood even more.

The forests near Guangzong County had almost all been chopped down; even the grass was not spared.

The army men taking the wood from the camp was completely understandable.

This was extremely important fuel and building material.

"The sisters were watching by the roadside." Jin Lian's complaint continued. "The army men took everything."

"Tools in the Gongjiang Ying, various medicinal herbs, grain and fodder, grease and flints, weapons and armor, ceramic bowls and wine jars, flags and musical instruments~~~"

"Wait." Lin Dao raised his head and asked curiously, "Where did musical instruments come from in the army camp?"

The army indeed had musical instruments, and even dedicated musicians.

Equipped with drums, cymbals, naos, bells, and various other instruments.

Like drums—"hear the drum and advance"; the sound of the drum meant the army was setting out.

The Brain was a bronze percussion instrument, shaped like a small bell, suspended and struck.

The name of this instrument might sound unfamiliar.

But mention the idiom "strike the Brain to recall the troops," and it becomes clear.

The Brain was the "metal" in "strike the Brain to recall the troops."

The Brain and the bo—one like a small bell, one like a handbell—were mainly used to maintain marching rhythm in the army.

Besides these, the army had all sorts of other instruments, each with its own use.

"Continue." After hearing the explanation, Lin Dao nodded to show he understood and gestured for Jin Lian to continue.

"The injured livestock were all slaughtered and butchered, then thrown onto carts along with everything else in the camp and hauled away."

Jin Lian frowned her beautiful brows. "These army men don't know gratitude at all!"

"Alright, I understand."

Lin Dao pondered for a moment. "This needs no more words; I have my own plans."

Jin Lian accepted the order and responded.

"Lord~~~" Sun Rong's shout came from outside the tent. "The various generals have arrived."

Lin Dao stood up and put on a smile. "Please come in quickly~~~"

A group of settlement commanders and generals entered in single file.

Each looked different, but their faces all bore similar anxiety, anticipation, and nervousness.

As the saying goes, people fear not scarcity but unfairness.

People in Feng Dun's Wubao could exchange heads for grain rewards; why not them?

If this happened in a regular Imperial Court army, memorials of impeachment would have flown out like snowflakes.

After some pleasantries, the settlement commanders and generals offered a string of flattering words.

Some even said things like "Lord Lin is the benefactor of our begging army"—such fawning words.

Lin Dao's identity was special; to the begging army, he was an outsider.

No way around it—people could give rewards to whomever they wished.

The military households under their command were all waiting eagerly.

If they couldn't negotiate a good result, this troop would be hard to lead.

Once everyone was seated, Lin Dao spoke first, offering a reassurance.

"Everyone, rest assured."

"Whoever it is, as long as they can obtain the head of a Qianghu, I will offer a reward here."

The various wubao commanders and generals all breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

Lin Dao swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke calmly, "The stored grain in your various wubao must be running low by now, I imagine."

One sentence caused these local tyrants of their respective wubao to fall silent instantly.

"Since the Qianghu have been defeated, the trade routes for transporting grain on my side can also be reopened."

Lin Dao smiled and said, "Same price as before: however much gold you bring, I will sell you that much grain."

The larger the order, the happier he would be.

What he worried about most was a siege like the Qianghu's, which would seriously affect business.

"There are important matters to attend to today." After settling the most important matter, Lin Dao rose to see his guests off, "I won't keep you all for a meal."

It was not a refusal; there were truly important matters.

He needed to fulfill his previous promise and distribute rewards to the military households.

The place for distributing rewards was near a hill several li outside the Main Camp.

Various supplies transported from the Modern World warehouse were piled up like mountains here.

Grain, cloth, pork, cooking oil.

Sorted into categories, they were all in heaps.

Sun Dalang and the other guards looked up at so many supplies, feeling dizzy.

"Could our lord really be an immortal?"

"How were so many things transported to this place?"

The guards truly found it difficult to understand.

Facing unknown things they could not understand, only awe remained in their hearts.

Led by the military households of Feng Dun's Wubao, large numbers of military households came in a mighty procession to receive their rewards.

The specific spoils had already been registered.

Now they only needed to bring their identity tokens to collect them.

As for the wounded and the pensions for those who died in battle, Lin Dao would arrange for guards to deliver them to their doors.

"Feng Weichang Central Army, Left Wing Yi Ding military household Liu Zhong, slayed one Qianghu, entitled to ten dan of grain, five bolts of cloth, twenty jin of pork, one barrel of oil!"

The one shouting the names with a trumpet was the Later Zhao Army scribe who had been captured previously.

There were still captives from this battle.

Lin Dao's bounty was for Qianghu; Xiongnu also counted.

The Hans in the Later Zhao Army were not included in the bounty.

These captives consisted mainly of craftsmen, civilian laborers accompanying the army, refugees captured along the way to be used as cannon fodder, and men and women of the beggar army captured by the Later Zhao Army in earth caves outside various wubao.

The Qianghu had slaughtered many, saving rations while storing food ingredients, resulting in not many people left.

Of the Hans who truly served as combat and auxiliary soldiers, besides those killed, those who fled, and those executed after interrogation, not many remained.

The craftsmen were forcibly detained; these were all skilled artisans.

The captured men and women of the beggar army were released on the spot.

The refugees were released after eating two more meals.

As for the civilian laborers accompanying the army, they were kept under guard; these human resources were useful.

However, the men and women of the beggar army and those refugees were unwilling to leave.

They stayed in the Main Camp, voluntarily doing whatever they could, expressing their willingness to die for the lord.

Lin Dao had not yet had time to make arrangements for these people.

Among the captured scholars, there were only ten-plus.

The stubborn ones, those who wanted to be loyal to the Heavenly King, had all been beheaded.

The few remaining who were willing to surrender were now helping with things here.

"Feng Weichang Lower Army, Left Wing Ding Ding Qianhu Tian Erlang, beheaded three Qianghu, entitled to thirty dan of grain, fifteen bolts of cloth, sixty jin of pork, three barrels of oil."

"Chen Weichang Upper Army, Right Wing Jia Ding Commander Liu Hu, beheaded seven Qianghu, entitled to seventy dan of grain, thirty-five bolts of cloth, one hundred forty jin of pork, seven barrels of oil."

Lin Dao, sitting on a sack of grain playing single-player Dou Dizhu, raised his head upon hearing this.

Only to see a burly military man, under the admiring gazes of the crowd, step forward to receive the reward supplies.

"My lord."

Sun Dalang beside him pointed at the military man, "This man is a military household of Chen Weichang's Central Army, long renowned for his bravery."

"If my lord is interested, this slave will recruit him."

Looking at Liu Hu's extremely burly figure, Lin Dao nodded, "First investigate this person's character, visit the neighbors to ask about his reputation, then decide."

"Received command~~~"

To behead seven Qianghu heads by one's own strength.

Such a fierce man was indeed worth recruiting.

Feng Weichang was the wubao of Commander Feng Dun.

Those coming from Feng Weichang almost everyone brought large carts dragged by livestock.

They happily loaded the reward supplies they had obtained onto the large carts and drove the livestock to transport them back.

"So many are warhorses."

Seeing this scene, Sun Dalang felt very regretful, "Actually used to pull carts."

After the Later Zhao Army was defeated, not even the grain and grass had time to be burned, and large numbers of livestock were also left in the camp.

The injured livestock were slaughtered to eat the meat.

The rest, whether oxen, horses, mules, or sheep, were all plundered and divided up by the military households.

In this era, large livestock were major assets.

"No matter."

Lin Dao lowered his head and continued fighting the landlord: "Livestock need to be raised."

Large livestock were even more delicate than people, especially sensitive horses.

Even if one had the patience to tend to them, the appetite of large livestock was several times that of a person.

In an era where people starved to death every day, for the military household commoners' families, just supporting their own wives and children was difficult, let alone raising large livestock—that was a luxury beyond hope.

"The lord is right."

Sun Dalang beside him craned his neck, staring at the phone screen: "At this time of year, there's hardly any grass left."

"Unless they're willing to take out grain to feed the large livestock, they can only watch helplessly as the livestock grow thin."

Two hundred thousand men and women of the Begging-for-Living Army had gathered here in Guangzong County for many years.

The trees nearby had long been chopped down completely.

Without trees, they began cutting grass and drying it for use.

It could be said that, apart from the crops cultivated in the fields, all other plants had been swept clean.

Just like the hill not far away, a glance showed it was bald, with hardly a weed in sight.

As for using grain to feed large livestock—

With Pangu above, thanks to the favor of Master Lin Jia, the Begging-for-Living Army who had just managed to eat full meals for a few days—who would dare waste grain like that!

By that time, most of these large livestock would have to be sold.

Looking around, the only one who could take in these large livestock was Lin Dao alone.

PS: Thank you to Book Friend Xu Feng 77 for the 1500-point reward support, deeply grateful, thank you!





End of Chapter